Sure, we could toss in about the 26 (and climbing) dead from the bombing in Brussels this morning, but passing stories about terrorism are always sprouting up these days.

No, the task for the (partially) sane investor is to slice and dice things in order that they make sense and might be transformed into a basic investment decision. Since we have been expecting new all-time highs to be along by May, or so, it is also useful to perform a reality-check like this periodically to see if our beliefs about the future have broken loose from their moorings.

1. The fact is that the US is not a good place for major corporations to be domiciled. The IRS audit potential – not to mention how they are not fond of crooked books – makes offshore havens much more appealing. We’ve discussed various ways banks (Grand Cayman and Grand Turk) have offshored a lot of their dough. And more and more formerly US companies are doing the same.

The reason is simple: You can report in a much more favorable way. And next week, with the Investment Association of the UK announces that quarterly reports should end for the 100 largest companies in England, we expect there will be a similar corporate move here.

The problem comes back to the US not having a tax-equity plan that will actually level the playing field between off-shore made goods and those Made in America.

Until we get that right, we expect the tax exodus will continue – and sure enough, no one seems to be interested in even discussing the lumber for that whole side of the revenue corral.

What comes through is that if you have a 401k you’re probably doing alright. And, due to the fine voting turnout of seniors, the political power is still running with the “grays” to keep Social Security from being dialed back for a long while to come.

The conundrum begins to appear though: How long can we continue to “have it good” for the average worker by some metrics, yet a “retirement crisis” that is getting worse by Time’s report?

The answer is simple: Bad tax policy and a failure to tax imported goods to an equivalent cost level of what goods could be made here for. At some point it all ends badly, but our outlook to the 2017-2018 area remains unscathed.

3. The short Asian wobble and the bombing in Europe may cool the markets a bit. Remember, though, we have two realities in background manifesting here.

One is that terrorism is still being taught/preached/ or programmed in a lot of Muslim countries and until that changes, our future will be filled with exploding people. Close to home is likely safer and that spells a gradual decline which can be expected for tourism. For now, cruise ships, rather than jetting off to Europe make a lot more sense to us. And the Caribbean is a nice place…

My friend Robin Landry and I will be getting together (not coincidentally on April Fool’s Day) to map out whether we should do another UrbanSurvival cruise of the Caribbean. The last trip on RCCL was a lot of fun…comments on whether you’d be interested are welcome. No, there’s no sale of anything. It’s just an excuse to travel and talk markets and not have the damn telemarketers calling us every 10-minutes.

We’re fortunate to have Panama around to watch the place in our absence.

The second reality is that the Fed has jammed on the brakes with creation of M1, while broader measures of money M2 and beyond, are still fairly robust. This should end the phenomena which has been in place for a good while now, namely things you need becoming more expensive, things you don’t are getting cheaper.

Couple that with the rising price of gasoline, and the Fed will have a difficult time in coming month not raising rates.

Although they stick their heads up their (fill in the blank) insisting that food and energy prices don’t matter, they seem to jet around and eat pretty well, so I don’t understand how far they can press the discussion of “core inflation” which is not likely, as I read it, to drop too much further. At least in the USA.

The Triple A Fuel Gauge report reckons the price of gasoline is still under last year’s ($2.24’sh versus today’s $1.94) but the prices have firmed 27-cents in the past month and that will eventually pass-through as an inflationary nudge that can’t be denied.

For the whole-year, we’re thinking about 2.8% in terms of real inflation. No telling what “core is” but it’s a useless number you can’t budget household spending to. Which is another reason we’re down on it.

In tomorrows www.peoplenomics.comreport, we will do our monthly assessment of the overall economic picture – and that, in turn, will color how we look at all those charts we produce twice weekly using our unique way of looking at the world as a whole crooked casino, instead of trying to break out performance of each area of the casino floor like that explains anything.

4. The last item to note is the taxi drivers in Indonesia because that kind of protest will come here. At least in the big cities.

What this means – and it is a biggie for Uber and Lyft – is that the new way of being in the hyper-connected world will continue to be resisted by supporters of the old paradigm which have already carved out business models that they are unwilling to change.

Axiom around here is “When business models collide, conflict occurs.” It’s true in foreign affairs, trade, and even in the streets of big cities.

We always find it “instructive” when people once open to pot change views. In some instances, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that alcohol lobbying influences have worked in the background.

The reality is, in all the data I’ve seen, pot is no more dangerous that booze and maybe safer. But reasonable weed reform seems unlikely here in Texas where punishing users has been a highly profitable business model for the corporation prison operators and the self-righteous pulpiteers.

Post navigation

Comments

Rounding Up Reality — 11 Comments

john: you must not have any children. my daughter divorced is now a single parent of three. she could not make it without the child tax credit. she works six days a week. maybe we could stop policing the planet as a better idea….

Had a sort of accidental trial run of Uber on a recent Trip to Vegas this spring. Headed out of the casino hotel to meet friends at a local pub – hit the taxi stand for the ride there – $12.54 – paid with a $20 and told the cabbie to keep the change. Had some drinks. The band had a tip bucket they kept mentioning was for “an Uber” later so they don’t kill anyone on the road.. really fun band – drank and toasted hilariously between most songs. Anyway, thought I’d try it out since I didn’t rent a car this trip, and don’t have Uber in my home (smaller) city anyway. Even in a pretty drunken state, while at the urinal I downloaded & installed the Uber app, added my CC info – pushed a button or two, and it counted down the minutes until the vehicle arrived at my location (uses smartphone’s GPS). Finished my drink in those 7 minutes, received a call from the driver, and traveled the same distance back to the hotel. Fee charged automatically to my card – $9.03 Gave the driver two crumpled $5s from my pocket. So, spent $19.03 total (less than cab), driver got a better tip, and convenience factor was pretty much equal. Talked to the driver on the way back about it, too – was her second job and she loved it. Sets her own hours, stops & starts shifts at will, GPS tells her where to go, when to turn, no need to accept payment directly from customers, etc. I “Ubered” my way around the city the remainder of the trip. Spoke with every driver about it and all loved the gig. I loved the convenience and reduced cost. The app itself is intuitive and slick. This “ride sharing” is an excellent business model. You know it used to cost $1 million to get a taxi medallion in NYC? Crazy what bureaucracy does. Goes for about half that now, I’m told, since there’s finally competition in the space. Anyway, thought I’d share my experience.

Speaking of pot, hemp oil extract has been outlawed because it is so healing that the drug companies are investigating them as drugs. http://www.naturalnews.com/053369_CBD_hemp_oil_extract_FDA_regulations.html My girlfriend from what is now the Czech Republic lives in NYC and commented that to her the US looks like communism. She’s getting her ducks in a row to move to Ecuador.

Something that heals without the FDC oversight? Imagine that. Maybe they will label running as drug-production for the endorphins you create in your own body. A government mandated license for joggers perhaps?

From Time .com…Trump is already shapeshifting his campaign…despite his prior claims to do otherwise. At the AIPAC event last night, his lambasts drew laugh, not cheers, good, not raucous excitement. The more intellectual the crowd…the more they despise him.

“Seeking to calm worries about his scant foreign policy credentials, Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump used his turn before the United States’ largest pro-Israel group to offer his view for the Middle East. He did himself few favors, often appearing to contradict himself and at times sounding just like the politicians he lambastes.”
(edited for length of 3rd party content to conform to copyright fair use – please read the rest at Time.com. G)
– – – –
Speaking before Trump, Ohio Gov. John Kasich offered a comprehensive vision for American-Israel relations. Following Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz mocked Trump’s use of “Palestine” repeatedly in his remarks, stating, “To the surprise of the previous speaker, Palestine has not existed since 1948.” Cruz also repeated Trump’s earlier claims for neutrality.

Before the event, Cruz fundraised with former foe Sen. Lindsey Graham and more than 200 top Jewish donors and activists, as well as many AIPAC board members, at an adjacent pub at an event that raised more than $200,000 for his campaign. At the fundraiser, Cruz criticized Trump’s judgement on foreign policy, according to two sources in attendance.”

I would suggest that everyone watch the speech and draw your own conclusions, my loan comment – and those pols with all the experience have delivered a foreign policy night mare we can all be proud of. It’s amazing how everyone knows what Trump is or going to do strictly based by and large on here say and MSM pandering..by the way his daughter is marrried to a Jew…Kasich – approved NAFTA and was the Gov of the state that voted Obama into office twice, supporter of TPP nuff said, Cruz wife was in the CFR has been linked to the TriLateral commission and bilderbergers all of which are looking out for our interests…I’m scared can we please keep are grifters in place…….

bwah! this comment gave me a chuckle, thanks.. picturing cats running the ranch :) the cat is named Zues – only 1 of them to my knowledge. Panama’s the ex-military BIL with questionable luck who’s recently had house hunting difficulties. BTW, George – how’s that going? Best of luck to him.

In regards to the missing bomb maker in Belgium who’s DNA was found on some bomb making material, does anyone wonder how they came up with this persons DNA in the first place so they could have a match? Just a thought.

You have to see this, so outrageous. This is from an Indiana news station.

Incredible and absolutely insane. Heads need to roll.

The IRS will put you in jail if you fail to pay the taxes that support this fraud.
This, without a doubt, is the craziest nation on the face of the earth. I urge
you to watch this and pass it on; maybe it will get to one of our Congressmen
who gives a damn!

It’s easy. No child tax credits. Abuse goes away and Americans actually might have to “think ahead” if they intend to have children hoping to get a government payment for doing so.

How about we just remove child tax credits? Replace it with extra benefits for college-students who can be tracked. Or, 2% discount on college loans equivalent to the child tax credits. Have children and we’ll pay you to raise them right – and you get paid when they are raised.